Sri Lanka

By Shihar Aneez COLOMBO, Nov 18 – Thirty-two Sri Lankan Muslims from “well-educated and elite” families have joined Daesh in Syria, the justice minister told parliament on Friday, promising that the government would clamp down on extremists. The statement by minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was condemned by representatives of the Muslim minority, who complained of racism.

LAHORE, Pakistan, Aug 29 – Pakistani police said on Sunday that three militants suspected of being behind an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the city of Lahore in 2009 had been killed during a shootout. The three men, along with a fourth alleged militant who was also killed, were in police custody travelling

By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez COLOMBO, May 18 – More than 150 people are feared dead after they were buried under two landslides triggered by more than three days of heavy rain in central Sri Lanka, disaster officials said on Wednesday as rescuers raced to find survivors and recover the dead. Torrential rains have

By Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO, Dec 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Saudi authorities have agreed to consider an appeal against the sentence of death by stoning imposed on a 45-year-old Sri Lankan maid for adultery, Sri Lanka’s deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday, welcoming the decision as a “big victory.” The married woman, who had been

By Iain Boyd SYDNEY, Nov 22 – A shared love of cricket is helping a team of Sri Lankan asylum seekers break down barriers and build relationships in Australia, even among some of the most fervent supporters of the country’s hardline immigration policies. The team’s name, Ocean 12, is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the way